Life After Sentosa

After the euphoria of qualifying for the 2nd round of the Sentosa Football competition and eventually being kicked out, the Marist Brothers thought that McLucky FC would go on to achieve greater heights.

How wrong were they!

In fact, after the Sentosa Football competition, McLucky FC went into a self-imposed exile. No follow-on football competitions; No 11-aside matches being organised; No challengers for 7-aside matches; No nothing...
Perhaps 1 reason for our inactivity was that our so called team manager Muthu Pang was busy expanding his lucrative curry business, leaving no time to manage his amateur bunch of kachang putih footballers...

But make no mistake, the Marist Brothers were not short of football action. It was just that they took a step back instead of moving forward.

Void deck football; More void deck football, Somemore void deck football; Saturday Football at Andy Kong's field; Saturday Football at Waichong's house field, Football at the Multi-purpose court in Maris Stella; Football on the basketball courts in Maris Stella High; Football with Alvin Lee's brother's friends at GreenHall.... And more football at some ulu ulu venues playing with ulu ulu opponents...

Though the quality was amiss in these football encounters, there was no shortage of drama mama moments...

Some of the strange experiences that you might be interested in...

- There was no lack of disapproving looks from bypassing aunties whenever we had a kickabout in the void decks of any HDB flats that we terrorised. However, things reached a boil when we clashed with one Garang(Pun intended) Guni Uncle who stored his cardboards in the same void deck that we ply our footballing trade in. In previous games, there were a few occasions that our ball interfered with his passion of collecting used cardboards. The Uncle showed us a black face and uttered some crude sentences that none of the Marist Brothers could understand and nothing more. However, 1 fateful saturday afternoon, we inccurred a greater wrath from this Garang Uncle. It seemed that his patience ran out when once again our ball collided into his precious pile of cupboards. With anger written all over his face, and a pair of scissors in his hand, he proceeded to grab the ball and punched a hole in it with his weapon. The Marist Brothers were flabbergasted! It signalled the end of our footballing exploits that day. And it was a long time before we played at that particular void deck again.

-This incident occurred in another void deck as well. This time, under AlvinLee's HDB flat. The weather looked uninviting that particular afternoon. It seemed that the skies were about to open their flood gates soon. So after attempting to play a game on the ultra tiny weenie outdoor Sepak Tekraw court beside AlvinLee's house, we gave up and moved indoor to the void deck. After kicking a few balls to warm ourselves up, we saw the famous (some say infamous) Andy Kong (or some say Andy Diouf) walking towards us. He had joined us late as he had some personal issues to attend to. We were happy to have an extra player joining us. However, something else put a worried look to our faces- we saw what looked like a police car passing by. Police Car = Policeman= Trouble! Within minutes, we saw Andy Diouf making a run for his life... Some other Marist Brothers managed a feeble attempt to conceal themselves. But it was too little too late, 2 police officers emerged out of nowhere. 1 a senior looking Malay man and the other a Garang young chinese man with an AH BENG look.
'Stop! Don't run!' the chinese man shouted! 'All come here! Playing football in the void deck huh!' he continued.
At this point, all of us surrendered. We gathered around the 2 civil servants who proceeded to give us a longwinded lecture about the inconsiderateness of plying our professional trade in the void deck. At points and junctures, one of the more vocal Brothers who harboured hopes of being a lawyer, intercepted the 2 of them with arguments and counter arguments that we had just moved into the void deck because it was going to rain soon and we had not actually started to play.
To add to the drama of the afternoon, Waichong (once well-known for his surging runs down the flanks and his KUNGFU kicks but has been MIA in recent years) suffered a cramp in his legs. Showing great sympathy that his young colleague obviously lacked, the Malay officer persuaded Waiching to sit down and rest. What happened next was routine - The police officers proceeded to take our names down and gave us a stern warning... That was it. But this incident was to put us off playing at that void deck for some time 2. One more playing arena down...

-This frustrating incident occurred at the action-packed field near Andy Kong's house. It was a hot, humid and sunny afternoon in the middle of our school holidays. The Marist Brothers gathered to play 5 or 6-aside among themselves. It was a usual practice that we used our bags to construct goalposts in the past. However, on this occassion, a certain Smart Alec (think it's the same as the 1 who thought of the team name) suggested using the public dustbins as goalposts. This would eradicate the controversy that often surrounds a goal when the ball seems to roll past a bag or bounce off it. The dustbins were much more sturdy and looked more similar to a real goalpost.
The Marist Brothers were happily engaged in their mini-game with both sides evenly matched and plenty of goalmouth action when once again a couple of police officers marched onto the field and ordered us to stop the game.
'What?! Play on field also cannot?!' the MArist Brothers thought...
We obediently gathered around the 2 policemen grudgingly.
'You think the public dustbin is a goalpost is it? Why don't you bring the dustbin from your house to use as a goalpost?!' (I would if i could. Just that it's 2 troublesome taking the bus and carrying a huge dustbin) 1 of the policeman started in his macho-sounding voices... And then proceeded in his longwinded lectures about damaging public property... (seems that the police force trains their officers in lecturing. They're all pro at it!)
Anyway, after the macho man had said his fill, his colleague(who remained mum uptill this point) started to demand our ICs from us. It was then that we discovered that he was a faggot! His voice was so high-pitched, it sounded like Liang SiMei! We struggled to contain our laughter while handing him our ICs...
After the 2 policemen were satisfied with taking down our names, they left. And we started bursting out in laughter.
* It seems like the police force is more interested in disrupting young boys enjoying a game of football than spending more time on more serious cases like theft, murder or rape cases? Hmmm, I'm not sure. Just an afterthought.

- Once again, this occurred on Andy Kong's field. The Brothers were happily playing a mini-game among themselves with some guest appearances (jianhong!? WeePing?!) by their classmates when a group of Mats came to challenge us. Having itchy backsides, they eagerly accepted their challenge. The game started on a rough note as the Mats committed a few rough tackles that ruffled the Brothers' feathers. This continued until it threatened to boil over. The straw that broke the Mats' back occurred when they scored a goal from a long distance out and one of the Brothers, a certain ChunHan (famous for playing volleyball in the penalty box) shouted, 'Not counted! Half-court?!'
1 of the Mats, a big burly centre forward was clearly pissed off by ChunHan's snide remarks. He attempted to get into a fight with 1 of the Marist Brothers, Waifu, who was no slouch himself. Waifu, showing his typical strongheadedness stood up to the Mat taunts, adding oil to the flames of anger.
'Come la! Scared ah?! Where's your gang? Put time and place! We go settle outside!' the Mat yelled.
'Come la! Think I scared ah?!' Waifu rebutted.
This confrontation swinged to and fro until the Mat flew into a rage and executed a flying kick towards Waifu. Fortunately, the rest of the Brothers managed to separate the 2 together avoiding the kick from landing on Waifu's face. Special mention must go to AlvinLee, who showed tremendous bravery when he took the initiative to stand in between the Mat and Waifu. However, he accidentally incurred tha wrath of the Mat when he kept touching the Mat's chest with his hands... 'Hey! don't touch me! you better don't touch me!' cried the Mat.
With time, the confrontation fizzled out and the 2 groups of people began to separate and leave the field. What drama! What controversy! As if we were playing for the world cup!
Anyway, further controversy erupted as Alvin Lee, the hero of the afternoon questioned the whereabouts of AndyDiouf during the confrontation. (Hamm?!)
It remains a mystery uptill this day.

-The short temper of AlvinLee... When the brothers were still in their adolescent years, AlvinLee had a streak of shocking and infamously short temper that used to erupt during games of football with little significance. There was 1 time when even our captain marvel was not spared. AlvinLee seemed to be frustrated that his team wasn't performing well in 1 of the void deck clashes. He took it out at captain marvel, Ong, and it seemed that the 2 would clash. Luckily, Ong showed amazing composure and a clash was avoided. AlvinLee also had the tendency to pack his bags and leave a football match whenever his team wasn't performing up to his high standards, leaving a trail of confused and frustrated team-mates behind him, who upon discovering what was happening, quickly packed their stuff as well and chase after the big man. Fortunately, AlvinLee is now a changed man. His temper has improved considerably and he now shows good composure on the field. Long may this continue Alvin!

There are so much more incidents to relate to... But I guess these are the 1s that stand out most.

Anyway, as these dramas unfolded, the key personnel of the team began to evolved as well.

Gone was our team manager Muthu Pang, who decided to concentrate full-time on his curry business. Joining him was Mark Koh, who decided to leave for greener pastures. Chayuit left for Japan as well, taking away our only foreign import.

In the opposite direction, there was an influx of new players... Kenny Kenny Goh, an ultra-competitive competitor (use your BODY!), Alex Cheng (our no1 goalkeeper), Dominic Maximillian Foong (our no1A goalkeeper, whenever he doesn't pang seh us), Michael Chan (a dependable defender), Lee Ee Yang (a rock in defence! Famous for his huge forearms), Rayner Tan (the GREATEST player ever to don the McLucky jersy), WeiWei (our No.1 right Winger who can't use his left leg), ChunHan (favourite past-time is to play volleyball in the penalty box), Leong Wai Chong (lightning quick full back and amazing KUNGFU kicks!) and Ang Yao Zong (decent defender when called upon)...
Many others joined us as well... Most came in a huff and left equally fast...

Eventually a core group was formed... That would continue to spread the team's name...



some of the core members of the team